Africa

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network and the Violence is not our Culture (VNC) Campaign condemn the recent police raid on a workshop for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights defenders in Entebbe, Uganda. This act is an outright violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms of human rights defenders, which are guaranteed under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter, both of which the Uganda government has signed and ratified.

In 2008, a small grant from the Sexuality, Society and Gender Program of the University of Uppsala in Sweden was recived to undertake a research on Senegalese women’s sexuality which findings would be published as a book.The research was completed an all articles drafted, but the money for printing and disseminating the book was lacking. This grant made the publication possible.

Womankind works to address issues arising from taboos around sexuality; women's limited ownership of their bodies; customary practices that constitute major human rights violations; the discriminatory nature of laws related to sexuality which lead to severe human rights violations; the discrepancies between law and practice; the conceptualization of women's bodies and sexuality as belonging to men, their families and society, and insufficient sexual and reproductive health services available to Women to claim their sexual rights in Karu and Keffi in Nasarawa State, north central Nigeria.

Safe haven’s organisational goal is to challenge violence anywhere we see it, with a focus on protecting women and girls. The idea for the FGM/C project originated as a result of the considerable success of high level of community support and trust through other projects executed in the community. Our organization has as one of its cardinal objectives a desire to end violence against women. We therefore see the subjection of young girls to the painful exercise of FGM without seeking their consent as violence against them which we have to fight against.

REFEPA’s goal in this project was to give voice to women to assert their rights to property and inheritance in the context of State laws, Muslim laws and customary laws. The project undertook action research in two sites – Hamdallahi and Kollo Zarma – and used the following strategies to achieve the above goal:

Women's Land Link Africa (WLA) is a joint regional partnership project that was launched in 2004. The WLLA was founded on the principal that all who are truly dedicated to improving the situation for women's land and housing rights (and to doing so in a manner which is both sustainable and stakeholder-driven) can and must link in complementary ways. The WLLA supports and strengthens linkages between regional stakeholders focused on improving women's access to, control over and ownership of land and housing in Africa. Working in isolation has rarely improved situations.

Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) is a pan-African, non-governmental, non-profit organization that brings together individuals and organizations to promote a culture for the exercise and respect for women's rights in Africa through a variety of tools, including law. WiLDAF's mission is to empower women by promoting their rights, increasing their participation and influence at the community, national, and international levels through initiating, promoting, and strengthening strategies which link law and development.

WLSA (Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust) is a regional non-governmental organisation (NGO) that conducts research about women’s human rights in seven countries of Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. WLSA thus defines its vision as a society with social justice and equality, and is committed to defending human rights in general.